Reed mounting for sifters



jam.. Bl'l, w39 P. M THOMPSON 345,499

REED MOUNTING FOR SIFT-ERS mi, w39.

l P. M, THQMPSON REED MOUNTING FOR SIFTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 091;.12, 193e Patented Jan. 31, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Peyton M.Thompson,

to N. Y.

International Milling Company,

Lockport, N. Y., assignor Buffalo,

Application October 12, 1936, Serial No. 105,176

15 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in sitters and more particularlyto means for yieldingly supporting the sieve or screen housing of asiiter.

One oi the objects of this invention is to provide a mounting ofimproved construction by means of which the rods or reeds supporting thesifter housing may be flexibly attached to a base or other part topermit the same to swing about the point of attachment and also to moveto a limited extent in the direction of their length. Another object ofthis invention is to provide a spring mounting for a reed of a sifter inwhich the spring is so arranged that it may flex to act as a universaljoint between the reed and the base. A further object is to provide amounting in which a spring is arranged to act as a universal jointbetween the base and the reed and also to permit a limited movement ofthe reed in the direction of its length.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription and claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a sifter having a mounting embodyingthis invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, oi the reed mounting,showing the same secured to the base oi the sitter.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof, partly in section.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation thereof, partly in section.

Fig. 5 is a section thereof on line 5--5, Fig. 2.

The word sitter as herein used is intended to apply to any apparatus forsifting, screening or bolting materials for the purpose of separatingthe same according to their particle sizes and the sifter shown in theaccompanying drawings is illustrated merely by way of example, since itwill be obvious that the sitter supporting devices embodying thisinvention may be used in connection with siiters of other constructions.

In Fig. l, A represents the body or sieve housing oi the sifter to whichthe materials to be sifted may be fed in any suitable manner, and fromwhich the siited materials may be separately discharged. The sievehousing A is mounted in such a manner as to cause the material which isbeing sifted to be quickly passed over and through the screens or sievesand for this purpose, the sieve housing is exibly mounted so as topermit the desired movement of the housing. In the particularconstruction illustrated, the sieve housing A is supported from a baseB,

by means of upright rods or reeds C, one end of each of which may besuitably clamped to the sieve housing A, as for example at 8, and theother ends of which are ilexibly connected with the base B, which in theconstruction shown has four outwardly extending legs to the ends ofwhich the reeds C may be flexibly secured. The sifter also includesmeans for imparting movement to the sieve housing, such for example, asa motor D mounted on the base B and connected by means of a belt E to acrank wheel F which is journalled on the base B and which has a crankpin journalled in a self-alining bearing in the lower part of the sifterhousing A. This connection imparts to the lower part of the housing A asubstantially circular motion and the upper corners or parts of thehousing A to which the upper ends of the reeds C are connected also havea modified circular motion, which is accompanied by a slight up and downmovement. This motion of the sieve housing results in a very efcient andrapid sifting action and also necessitates a circular motion togetherwith a slight amount of vertical movement of those portions oi the reedsC which are connected with the housing. The sitter itself is not a partof thisy invention and forms the subject matter of an application forpatent led by Thomas G. Cecka on June 25, 1936, Serial No. 87,198. Thispresent invention concerns itself mainly with the flexible mounting forthe reeds of the sitter to permit the swinging of the reeds about themounting and also to permit the desired slight amount of longitudinalmovement of the reeds.

My improved mounting is shown in the drawings as applied to the outerends of the legs of the base B, which legs preferably each have asubstantially flat base portion 9 reinforced by means of an upright webor rib l which terminates at a distance from the end of the leg.

In order to provide a flexible and yielding mounting for the reeds Cwith relation to a xed base, I preferably provide one or more flexiblestrips or springs secured to the base and to the reeds C. In theconstruction illustrated, two flat leaf springs l2 are shown, one end ofeach of which is rigidly secured to the base B in any suitable manner,for example, by means of bolts l' and near the other ends of thesesprings, reeds C are secured in any suitable manner. For example, in theparticular construction sho-wn, clamps are provided for securing thereeds to the springs, including a clamping member I4 rigidly secured inany suitable manner, such, for example, as screws rl and I6 to thesprings l2.

These clamps have upright parts provided with upright grooves orrecesses I1 adapted to receive the ends of the reeds C and cooperatingclamp members I8 are provided with similar recesses I9. When the twoparts I4 and I8 of the clamp are secured together, for example, by meansof a bolt 2li, the lower ends of the reeds will be securely attached tothe outer ends of the springs I2.

It will be noted that by means of the construction shown, the springs I2may be flexed in different directions to form pivotal connections ormountings for lower ends of the reeds, to enable these ends of the reedsto move relatively to the base in such a manner as to enable the upperends of the reeds to travel in approximately circular paths. Thesprings, therefore, act as universal joints connecting the reeds and thebase. The springs can also flex in such a mamier as to permit up anddown movement of the reeds C, in the direction of their lengths.

It has been found that in the sifting of flour and other finely dividedmaterials, a high eiiciency of the sifter can be obtained, if thevertical movement of the reeds C is restricted so as to preventexcessive up and down movement of the sieves within the housing A. Suchup and down movement may, of course, be: limited by the stiffness of thesprings I2, but such stiffness would restrict the ease with which thesprings become flexed to permit the same to act more or less as pivotsfor the lower ends of the reeds C. Consequently, it has been founddesirable to make the springs I2 relatively light and iiexible and toprovide other means for restricting the up and down movement of thereeds C. In the particular construction illustrated, I have accordinglyprovided at the outer ends of the springs I 2 a clamp or stop 25suitably secured to the base B, for example, by means of screws or bolts26, and having va toe or projection 21 extending over the outer ends ofthe springs I2. It is also very desirable to provide suitable resilientmeans for cushioning the up and down movement of these ends of thesprings I2, and any resilient means may be employed for this purpose. Inthe construction illustrated, I provide a rubber pad 28 between theouter ends of the springs I2 and the base B and another pad 29 betweenthe upper faces of the ends of the springs I2 and the extension or4 toe21 of the stop member 25. The pads 21 and 28 may be of any suitablerubber composition having the desired resiliency, and furthermore, thedistance between the lower face of the toe or projection 21 and the baseB may be such that when the stop member 25 is sebase, the rubber pads 28and 29 compression. Since the lower pad 23 must support a part of theweight of the sieve preferably somewhat larger in size than the upperpad 21.

The parts of the stop device described can be readily designed orproportioned so as to provide for the desired up and down movement ofthe ends of the springs l2. For the sifting and bolting of flour, forexample, it has been found that a movement of approximately 5- of aninch in an up and down direction of the reeds C produces the maximumsifting eliiciency and if it should be found that for other materials, adifferent vertical movement is desired, this can be readily obtained byreplacing the pads 28 and 21 with pads of greater or less resiliency orby providing stop devices in which the toes or extensions 21 are spacedat greater distances from the base B. My improved mounting can,therefore,

be readily adapted to suit various conditions which may be encountered.The mounting is also such that it is very durable and not subject todeterioration. Furthermore, all of the parts of .the mounting arereadily removable and accessible so that repairs or replacements canquickly be made. It will further be noted that the yielding mounting forthe ends of the springs provided by the stop device further assists thesprings in their flexing to provide for a pivotal movement of theadjacent ends of the reeds.

While the mounting is herein described as forming a connection betweenthe lower ends of the reeds C and the base B, it will be obvious that myimproved mounting may, if desired, be used for connecting the upper endsof the reeds to the sifter housing A or for mounting the reeds C from anoverhead support. While the device illustrated in the drawings shows tworeeds used at each corner of the sifter, it will be obvious that thedevice may equally well be used with a single reed or with more than tworeeds. It will also be understood that the word base as herein used isintended to include not only a specially constructed sifter base such asshown in the drawings, but any part to which a reed may be secured, suchfor example as a floor, a ceiling, or overhead support or a part of thesieve housing itself, since it will be obvious that the mountingdescribed may be employed at either or both ends of the reeds. It willalso be understood that the drawings illustrate merely one embodiment ofthis invention and that it is not intended to limit the invention to theparticular embodiment illustrated.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a sifter having a sieve housing and a base, reeds supporting saidhousing from said base, a exible connection between a reed and saidbase, including a leaf spring having its iiat face arrangedsubstantially horizontally and having a portion thereof secured to abase and having the reed secured to another portion thereof to permitflexing of said spring in accordance with the movement of said reed.

2. In a sifter having a sieve housing and a base, reeds supporting saidhousing from said base, a flexible connection between a substantiallyupright reed and said base including a leaf spring secured near one endthereof to said base and having a reed secured to the spring at adistance from said end, the flat face of said spring being arrangedsubstantially in a horizontal plane, to permit a limited universalmovement of the part of said spring to which said reed is connected, anda movement thereof in the direction of the length of the reed.

3. In a sifter having a sieve housing, a base, reeds supporting saidhousing from said base, a connection between a reed and said base,comprising a substantially horizontally extending flexible strip havinga part secured to a base and a movable part positioned at a distancefromthe iirst mentioned part, and means for securing a reed to saidmovable part.

4. In a sifter having a movable sieve housing supported from a base byreeds, and connections between said substantially upright reeds and saidbase, each comprising a substantially horizontally extending metal leafspring having a portion thereof secured to said base and having a reedconnected to another portion of said spring which is free to flexrelatively to said base to form a universal joint connection betweensaid base and said reed.

5. In a sifter having a movable sieve housing supported from a base byreeds extending upwardly from said base and connected with said housingat their upper ends, and connections between said reeds and said base,each comprising a leaf spring extending substantially at a right angleto said base and having a portion thereof secured to said base andhaving a reed connected to another portion of said spring which is freeto flex to form a universal joint connection between said base and saidreed, said spring also being flexible in a direction to permit movementof the reed in the direction of the length of the reed.

6. In a sifter having a sieve housing and a base, reeds supporting saidhousing from said base, a flexible connection between a reed and saidbase, including a leaf spring extending substantially at a right angleto said reed having one part thereof secured to the base and anotherpart which is flexible relatively to said first mentioned part and towhich said reed is secured, and means for limiting the movement of saidreed in the direction of its length.

'7. In a sifter having a sieve housing and a base, reeds supporting saidhousing from said base, a flexible connection between a reed and saidbase, including a leaf spring having a portion thereof secured to a baseand having the reed secured to another portion thereof to permit flexingof said spring in accordance with the movement of said reed, and stopmeans engaging said spring to limit movement of the same in thedirection of the length of said reed.

8. A connection between a base and a reed supporting a sieve housing,comprising a flexible strip having a face thereof lying in asubstantially horizontal position having a part secured to said base anda movable part positioned at a distance from the first mentioned part,means for securing a reed to said movable part, and means engaging saidmovable part to limit the movement of the same in the direction of thelength of said reed.

9. A connection between a base and a reed supporting a sieve housing,comprising a substantially horizontally extending flexible strip havinga part secured to said base and a movable part positioned at a distancefrom the first mentioned part, means for securing a reed to said movablepart, and resilient stop means engaging said movable part to limitmovement thereof in the direction of the length of said reed.

l0. A connection between a base and a reed supporting a sieve includinga leaf spring extending substantially at a right angle to said reed andhaving a part thereof secured to said base,

and a clamp secured to another part of said spring and to which saidreed is secured.

11. A connection between a base and a reed supporting a sieve includinga pair of leaf springs, each having one end thereof connected to saidbase, and a bracket connecting the other ends of said springs and towhich said reed is secured, to permit said reed to swing to differentangular relations to said base and to move in the direction of itslength.

12. A connection between a base and a reed supporting a sieve includinga exible strip having a part thereof secured to said base and having areed secured to another part thereof, and resilient pads arranged atopposite faces of said strip to limit the movement thereof by said reed,said flexible strip permitting said reed to move in the direction of'its length and said pads limiting said lengthwise movement of said reed.

13. A flexible mounting for an upright reed on a base, including a pairof leaf springs arranged in substantially parallel relation to eachother and having their fiat faces lying in substantially horizontalplanes and having one end of each spring secured to said base, a clampengaging an end of a reed and secured to the opposite ends of said leafsprings, and stop means engaging the ends of said leaf springs adjacentto said clamps and having resilient pads confined at the upper and lowerfaces of said springs for limiting the vertical movement of saidsprings.

14. In a sifter including two parts, one of which is movable relativelyto the other part, reeds having their opposite ends connected to saidparts for forming a flexible connection between said parts to permitmovement of one part relatively to the other, a leaf spring extendingsubstantially at a right angle to a reed and connected at a portionthereof to one of said parts and having an end of the reed connected toanother portion thereof, to permit flexing of said spring in accordancewith the movement of said reed.

15. In a sifter including two parts, one of which is movable relativelyto the other part, reeds having their opposite ends connected to saidparts for forming a flexible connection between said parts to permitmovement of one part relatively to the other, a leaf spring extendingsubstantially at a right angle to a reed and connected at a portionthereof to one of said parts and having an end of the reed connected toanother portion thereof, to permit exing of said spring in accordancewith the movement of said reed, and resilient stop means arranged tolimit the movement of said spring relatively to the part to which saidspring is connected.

PEYTON M. THOMPSON.

